We Headed for the Skies
by Helmsly
Summary: They grew up together. They were each other's first kisses. They inspire envy in the heart of every other couple. And I'm left to watch their fairytale unfold in front of me while being hopelessly in love with her.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

"Does this mean anything to you?" he asked her.

He knew the roles were reversed, that typically it was expected that the woman would be the one to ask that dreaded question. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to care. In this moment, everything he had ever wanted was within reach. He just had to know if this would hurt him later on.

She raised her right hand to cup his cheek. "I wouldn't be here if it didn't," she whispered back while smoothing out the frown that had appeared. Leaning up on her toes, she became level with his lips. With one last warm glance to his eyes, she closed hers and placed a feather-light kiss on his mouth.

It took him a little while to respond to her kiss. His mind was preoccupied with the realization that all the pain, the tears, and the heartbreak had led to this. And he couldn't find it within himself to regret any of it because this moment was worth it. And with that thought, he put everything he had into that kiss. His left hand dug itself in her hair, as his right arm wound itself possessively around her waist. His lips became unforgiving to hers, bruising and biting, and by the whimpers she was releasing, she didn't mind at all.

He began backing her up to the hotel room bed until her thighs reached the mattress. They broke apart and took note of the other's appearance: lips swollen, hair wild, eyes filled with excitement and vulnerability. She made the first move and tangled their hands, leading them both to sit on the mattress. He looked into her eyes and thanked his lucky stars that everything he had endured had led him here with her. And with an anxious sigh for what tomorrow held, he proceeded to forget everything else but her.


	2. Grey with Envy

This takes place a while before the prologue

When Shane Grey reflects on his life, he realizes that he should be grateful. Becoming a widely known pop star before you reach your twenties pretty much requires a large amount of gratitude to the powers that be. And despite all of his accomplishments and material possessions, he cannot bring it in himself to be grateful.

Shane spends too much of his time being envious to even consider mustering up some gratitude. One would assume a celebrity of his caliber would only be envious of a far wealthier, much more recognizable celebrity. He isn't.

In fact, the object of Shane's envy is someone who many would consider his equal: Nate Black. His reasons for envying Nate are nothing as superficial as fan attention or endorsement income. No, it's much simpler and yet so much more complex than that. Nate has the love of his childhood best friend, Mitchie. And there would be nothing that Shane wouldn't give to claim her love as his own.

Nate and Mitchie's relationship is one that everyone around them strives for. From going to pre-school together, to being each other's first kisses, they have the kind of story that Nicholas Sparks' novels try so hard to emulate.

They even joke about how they are the real life Lily and Marshall. Correlating Halloween costumes, joint Christmas cards, weekly date nights. Their relationship makes everyone else reach for something better. And it makes Shane sick, so sick. Because Mitchie is all he's ever wanted and he knows that time will not change his mind.

While he's always known he had a soft spot for his band mate's soft spoken girl, he didn't realize just how bad it was until she first joined them for their tour. It was then that he got to spend time getting to know her. He would spend hours at catering talking to her about everything he could think of.

He knew of her to be shy and timid, but as their familiarity grew, so did her confidence around him. She began using more than a handful of words to answer his questions and began asking some of her own. Their impersonal Q&A-style conversations grew into confiding about each other's deepest thoughts.

They began forming a friendship which Shane became increasingly dependent on. He told her about his father's issues with substance abuse and his own fears that he would follow a similar path. She told him about her inability to deviate from what she was used to and her fear of change.

With this friendship, Shane found himself growing more resentful of his band mate. Why did Nate get to have someone as wonderful as Mitchie? Did he fully appreciate everything that she offered?

After a particularly brutal practice where Shane had to witness another endless game of Nate-Mitchie tickle fest while they were supposed to be playing their new single, he finally had to ask his unspoken questions.

"You know how many guys spend their entire life looking for a girl like that?" Shane asked. Several members of the crew were discussing musical arrangement backstage while everyone else was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

"I know. I'm blessed." Nate answered with a somewhat resigned sigh. His reaction puzzled Shane.

"Do you appreciate her?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

There was a pregnant pause where Nate seemed to seriously consider the question.

"I hope so." And with that, Nate left. Their discussion was never brought up after that.

**Hello. I'm a new writer on here. If you like what you've read so far, please review. I have a number of chapters already pre-written and reviews help encourage my to upload faster. Let me know how you like things so far.**


	3. Northern Comfort

**I hope you're enjoying the other two chapters. I'll probably upload a couple more within the next few days. Please review. I have a number of pre-written chapers and reviewing encourages me to upload faster.**

It was lunch time on the day of a concert in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Shane had, as was his custom, shown up late to catering. As he looked around at the tables and chairs, he saw that only a handful were occupied.

He stepped towards the now cold entrees and took a little of everything left. As he turned around and searched for a seat to best serve his desire for seclusion, he spotted Mitchie. On pure instinct alone, his feet led him to her and he took a spot on her left. She had noticed him the moment he had stepped into the catering tent, but her current state of mind prevented her from calling out to him.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uh, hey there, Mitchie," he managed to stammer out.

"Hi, Shane," she responded unenthusiastically.

Shane became increasingly puzzled. Their friendship was somewhat new as it had only been as old as the tour they were currently on, which last week had reached its two month milestone. And while that might not be that lengthy, they had spent much of their free time confiding in one another and develop a routine together. This wasn't the way they were with one another.

"Is…Is something wrong? Are you mad at me?" he asked, feeling alarmed.

She looked up at him with a stricken expression. "No, of course not. You could never make me mad at you. I'm so sorry for making you think that. I've just had a terrible day," she said with an apologetic tone.

"Really? I could never make you mad at me? I'm going to spread Nutella all over your entire wardrobe and then remind you of this conversation," he teased.

That managed to make her smile. "Thank you. I needed your particular brand of humor now more than you know."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Shane asked.

"No, I don't. It's frustrating me over and over every time I think about it."

"Well, it's still on your mind. I can tell. You don't normally have those frown lines on your forehead. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen you without a smile on your face," he remarked with an uncharacteristically serious tone. "I could give you an outside perspective. Plus, I'm legendary for my advice."

With a smile on her face and a "you asked for it" sigh, "It's Nate. He's…ugh," she huffed. Shane waited patiently for her to begin again.

"I played him a song I wrote. He kept telling me that the chord progression wasn't working and that he could fix it for me. I refused, and we began arguing over that. It just… it kept growing and growing until we were both arguing about anything and everything else but music. He told me that I needed to grow up and act my age. How did I expect to make it anywhere, especially music, if I couldn't handle some conductive criticism. That I never listen to anyone but myself and that I was selfish. Eventually, he…uh…he…" she trailed off in an uncomfortable tone. At this point, her cheeks were strawberry red with embarrassment.

"Mitch, you can tell me anything. And I mean that. You know things about me that I can't even admit to myself most of the time, "he said with obvious sincerity.

"H-He said that I never do anything for him. That we've been together for four years and that he'd waited long enough to, um, consummate the relationship," she finished up uneasily. The blush from her cheeks had now managed to encompass her entire face. She looked down in embarrassment, hoping to shield her face from Shane.

Now, Shane had more than his fair share of being angry. He spent much of his time being angry at Nate and his good fortune. But nothing could compare to his current feelings for his band mate. He was well-aware of the fact that he was always going to be biased when it came to Mitchie and Nate's relationship. But that did nothing to quell the fire of hate that he was currently possessing for Nate.

It was well-known amongst all in their inner circle that Mitchie would always be the definitive "good" girl. She did not partake in anything that would get her into any trouble. Some of the backup dancers had even taken to calling her Mary behind her because she reminded them of the Virgin Mary. It was widely assumed that she was waiting until marriage.

The thought of anyone corrupting her, especially the highly undeserving Nate, almost crushed Shane. He had almost forgotten about the shy girl sitting in front of him who was awaiting his response.

"Well, what did you do?" he asked with great difficulty.

"I told him that I wasn't ready and then I walked out. I couldn't be around him like that." She paused. "I know it's been four years. I know that anyone else would have walked away by now. But, I don't want to do it because he deserves it, you know? To me, it's something you do when you're emotionally ready. And I'm not. I just want to be secure in myself and in the other person before I take that step."

Shane took a resigned breath and closed his eyes. As much as he hated the idea of Mitchie with anyone in that way, she seemed to have her head and heart in the right place. It was at that point that Shane knew that whatever choice Mitchie made, he would support. Because Mitchie wasn't another irresponsible teenager with an "I know what I'm doing" attitude. She was thoughtful, intelligent, and mindful of actions and their consequences. If she chose to sleep with Nate, it was because she knew it was the right thing for her. He opened his eyes and looked at the woman before him.

"I think you did the right thing. He didn't mean any of those things. It's probably a heat of the moment type of response. Little arguments turning into much bigger arguments because you've been on tour a while and you can't escape each other. Give Nate some time to cool off. He should be fine. You guys can never stay mad for too long," he said.

His words resulted in a patented Mitchie smile. "Thank you. Now I can see why your advice is legendary," she teased. She leaned over and engulfed him in a hug. "You always make me feel better. Thank you for listening to me. It means the world," she whispered in his ear.

And with that, she bid him a quick goodbye and left, leaving a sadly smitten Shane to ponder his predicament.

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	4. Never Bargained for You

**Please review for the nex chapter.**

****The show that night had been interesting to say the least. Shane ignored Nate at all costs, and spent more time than usually interacting with the audience. The rest of the band took notice of Shane's strange behavior. At a break between songs, the band began trading their electric guitars for acoustic ones. Nate took this as an opportunity to approach Shane away from the microphones and prying eyes of the concert goers.

He put his hand on Shane's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, are you ok? You've been kind of antsy all night."

Shane tried to calm himself down. He knew that Nate hadn't done anything to him, and that his relationship with his girlfriend was none of Shane's concern. He had no claim over Mitchie, and all things aside, Nate had been a valuable best friend. He had been there for Shane through every argument he had with his parents, as was Jason. They had become his surrogate brothers, and had managed to support him like his own family never had. In his heart, he knew that Nate was a good person and that he really truly deserved a girl like Mitchie even if he had no idea how to treat her.

With a forceful exhale, he turned to meet Nate's eyes. "I've been having a weird day. Not really feeling like myself, you know?"

Nate gulped and an uncharacteristic nervous look passed over his face. It was gone as soon as it had come. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Today's just one of those days where everything feels like an episode of the Twilight Zone," he answered in his usual gravely serious tone.

Something about Nate's response alarmed Shane, but he decided to let it go. "Come on, Jason is trying to signal us with his eyes. He's failing miserably."

"Good lord, what is he doing? Let's go put him out of his misery before he loses his sense of sight."

They finished the show that night just like every other one. Shane was still as uncomfortable as ever, but he made more of an effort to communicate with his band now that his behavior was noticed. After the show, Shane and a majority of the tour personnel decided to go out for his guitar tech, Travis's 26th birthday. He extended an invitation to Nate, knowing that Mitchie and him were spending some time apart, and trying to regain a friendship that had suffered due to his romantic feelings for Mitchie. Nate, however, politely declined, expressed his sincerest birthday wishes to Travis, and turned in for the night. He was by no means in the mood for celebrating as the day's events had left him mentally exhausted, but he knew that sitting in his room alone would only further depress him.

Finding a place open at this late hour in city like St. Cloud was no easy task, but after much asking around, the crew managed to find a pub specializing in beer imports to occupy their large party. It was while on his seventh Beamish of the night where he realized that his intoxicated state only made him long for Mitchie more. No matter what he did, it always came back to her. With a silent surrender, he bid a goodbye to those around him, and slipped out of the pub and back to the hotel largely unnoticed.

When he reached the hallway of his room, he gave up trying to pretend that he was by any means alright. He sunk to his knees with his back against the wall and let himself think about his current predicament without restraint.

He thought of Mitchie and all he longed to achieve with her. He thought of her calming nature and her fierce determination in those she cared about. He thought of her passion for her guitar and her insistence that she wasn't that good a player. He thought of her small hands and how badly he wanted to trace the lines on her palm. He thought of how badly he wanted to love her without shame. He thought of kissing her and how she would taste. He thought of making love to her and how it would feel to have her finally, truly see him. He thought of how desperately he wanted these things to happen and how extremely unlikely it was of them ever occurring.

And yet, he knew that he wouldn't change a thing about their situation because he knew that he loved a good woman. And to him, that was better than being in a relationship with the types of girls he encountered on a daily basis.

Shortly after coming to this conclusion, he heard the opening of a door. He lifted his head expecting a tour mate but instead met the eyes of a very disheveled and flushed Tess Tyler.

"Tess?" he asked with genuine surprise.

At the sound of his voice, she jumped and quickly spun to face him. "Shane? Uhhh. Hi," she said in a shocked tone.

Shane furrowed his signature eyebrows. "What are you doing here? I thought you were joining the tour for the European leg?" he wondered aloud.

"I…I am. Just wanted to stop by and visit since I was in the neighborhood," She replied with uneasily and without maintaining eye contact.

"You were 'in the neighborhood' of St. Cloud, Minnesota?" he asked with obvious disbelief coloring his tone.

The door Tess had just emerged from creaked open again, silencing them both.

"Tess you forgot your…your…" Nate trailed off. His cheeks were also flushed and his matted hair was sticking to his forehead. His eyes looked straight into Shane's and in that moment, Shane understood the very clear signs he had been unintentionally ignoring.

"Uhh, Shane. Eh, Tess was just…"

"Save it," Shane spat out. Never in his life had he been more disgusted. He couldn't believe that Nate was capable of this level of betrayal. His best friend wasn't this person.

"What's going on?" Mitchie's soft voice broke the boys' battle of eye contact. All three people turned to meet her eyes.

**I've been amazed at the number of people who have read this in the few days that it's been posted. It would mean a lot if you could review also. This chapter is part 1 of 2. And TRUST me, you're gonna want to read the next chapter. **

**Please review if you want the next one.**


	5. I Will Make You Hurt

_There is a famous quote by Alexander Hamilton that states, "A promise must never be broken." Mitchie Torres came across it while doing research on him for a 7th grade paper in her Law, Government, & Economics class. This line had resonated with her long after her classroom obligation had been met, and since then, Mitchie developed an intellectual crush on him. The Federalist Papers became a favorite book of hers and she always had a copy with her wherever she went. As much as she grew to learn about Mr. Hamilton, her most favorite thing about him remained his quote about promises. In her eyes, promises were sacred and the violation of one revealed a person's true character. Her father had promised to return from getting ice at the store in time for the cutting of the cake at her 5th birthday party. Mitchie and her mother haven't heard from him since._

_In the years after her father's departure, Mitchie learned a new way of life. She learned to entertain herself, as a weeping mother made for a terrible play companion. She learned that mother needed days of sleep to regain her energy, so it was best to make no noise in the house. She learned that the boy next door was always eager to play anything and everything. And that was how she befriended Nate._

While assessing the strange scene she had just stumbled upon, her eyes fell on Nate's face. He was wearing the same expression he had when he had broken her bedroom window when they were ten. His mom had forced him to save up enough money to replace it, and Nate had written Mitchie a letter of apology. It was still framed in her room somewhere.

Mitchie cleared her throat uncomfortably without knowing exactly why she was uneasy. Her eyes traveled to the bottle blond she had befriended two years ago at LA Records' holiday party.

"Tess? What are you doing here?" she asked with a puzzled tone. She let out a confused laugh. "Not that I'm not glad to see you. I just thought you were busy recording this month."

Tess Tyler let out a nervous, hurried breath. "Well, I…" she trailed off. "I…" she started again. "I just…uh… came to see you guys and… to…to…"

It was then that Mitchie noticed Tess's inability to maintain eye contact. She then looked at Nate to see if he was noticing Tess's strange behavior. Whereas Tess's eyes were directed strictly away from Mitchie, Nate's were shooting between Mitchie and the carpeted floor. Both of their unusual eye movements were alarming Mitchie, and yet she couldn't put her finger on why it was bothering her. Her eyes finally landed on Shane's. His eyes were steadfast in holding her gaze. Every line on his face was laced in sympathy and worried care.

It was at that moment that Mitchie finally realized the truth that had become comically obvious at this point. She took in Nate's crumpled clothes, the sweat that lined his brow and matted his hair, Tess's askew necklace, her smeared cheap lip gloss, the awful pink stain on Nate's collar. And with her realization, everything she knew just seemed to burst like a dying black hole.

**I changed to Mitchie's POV this chapter because I felt that this part of the story needed to be told through her eyes. I plan on playing around with different writing styles throughout this story, so feel free to tell me what you like. I plan on this story being pretty long. It's also rated M for a reason, so don't be shocked later on. **

**I'm posting the next chapter at 10 reviews. It's already written as is the chapter after that, so please review to get me to post ASAP.**


	6. Like Tina did Ike, It Finally Hit Me

For a moment, everything in Mitchie Torres's life went oddly still. There was nothingness surrounding her, and everything around her seemed to be at peace.

"You fucked her," she managed to say in a small voice, breaking the silence. She didn't phrase is as question, it was posed as a truth which she in her soul knew.

"You fucked her," she repeated in a louder and confused tone. "You fucked her, you fucked her, you fucked her!" she repeated again, each statement louder than the one before it. At this point, Mitchie's chest was heaving violently. Her eyes were moisture-filled and wouldn't budge from Nate.

Nate looked on the verge of crying himself. "I'm sorry," he replied in a low ashamed tone.

"You're sorry? You're sorry? You fucked someone else and all you can say is 'I'm sorry'?" she roared. The tears had spilled over but she couldn't deal with them now. All she could see and feel was the anger that was now roaring its ugly head like a fire within her.

"Oh. Oh m-. What the fuck is wrong with you? How could you do this to me? Why?" she yelled with extreme difficulty. She was now red in the face and her breaths were coming out in short intervals.

"After everything, you do this to me! After everything? We've been together for almost five years, and you choose to go and DESTROY me like this! I can't…I can't" unable to finish her thought she let out a howl of anger and pure grief.

**I'm so so sorry for not posting on here in a while but life has a way of getting hectic when you least expect it to. I know this chapter is short but I wanted to post something for you guys. I'll post hopefully somewhere between 2-5 chapters today and tomorrow depending on how many people read & review. **

**Things will be getting rated M real soon :)**

**Review and I'll post a long chapter tonight.**


	7. The Whole World Stops and Stares

_Shane Gray was walking in the woods to Nate's cabin and was mulling over the current state of his mind. He had just broken up with his on again-off again girlfriend. Even to himself, he refused to acknowledge that she just wanted someone to make out with occasionally at parties, and he would still refer to it as if it were a valid relationship. Apparently, Rosaline had found a new person to make out with and she let Shane know that his services were no longer needed._

_Shane felt devastated. He had liked this girl for some time and had hoped to build a real relationship with her. Sure she was shallow and self-serving on the outside, but surely there must be more to her on the inside. Years later, Shane would realize that, no, there was nothing more to her, and that she lacked the patience & understanding to build a real relationship with anyone besides herself._

_It was with a busy mind and unfocused eyes that he unceremoniously crashed into another body._

"_Watch where you're going, will ya?" he heard a miffed female voice yell._

_Lying on the ground was a blue-eyed brunette, and a very attractive brunette at that. Reaching down to lend a hand to this young lady, he was most surprised when it was quickly slapped away. She rose to her feet unaided and gave him a stare that would make a lesser man run for cover._

"_I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I was just-"_

"_I don't care what you were just doing. Don't let it happen again!" she exclaimed with flailing hands._

"_Alexis, he just apologized. Be nice." He heard another voice say._

'_Thank you other voice' he thought._

"_Yeah, I'll be nice. I'll nicely put my foot up his ass" the girl named Alexis muttered. And with one last withering stare to Shane, she stomped off._

_He turned towards the other girl to thank her properly for intervening when he found himself unable to do much of anything but stare. During the brief conversation with Alexis, he had not been able to look at this girl properly. But now that he did, he never wanted to do anything else but look at this girl._

_The first thing he noticed was her smile which seemed to be a permanent fixture upon her face. He would do everything he could for this girl to always smile like this. Her eyes still held the laughter of the situation, and it was while gazing at her that he knew that he was done for. _

"_Hi, I'm Mitchie," she said._

"_I'm Shane."_

Shane looked at the heartbreak that was taking over Mitchie's face and he was reminded of the promise he made to himself the first time he met her. All he wanted was her happiness and he resolved to make her happy again once more, whether it was with him or with someone else. Because he knew that true love means doing anything for that other person, no matter how much it breaks your own heart.

**Hey readers! Hope you enjoy this chapter. I wanted to give you a look at how Shane starts falling for Mitchie. There are references to another work of literature in this (If you picked up on it, good for you for paying attention in high school English class). Do you guys prefer the many little chapters or would you prefer longer chapters but updated less often? The reason I do it short and often is that I like changing the POV often, but if it's too annoying, I'll change it.**

**Please rate and review. If you could do me a favor and check out my Etsy page at etsy. com/ shop/ AKHelmsly (without the spaces) . I happen to make all sorts of things like earring holders, ring holders, art work, etc. I've just started posting on there so let me know if you're interested in me making you anything. **

**Thank you and let me know what you think!**


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